Return To Oz (Walt Disney film)
Return To Oz is a fantasy adventure film that was made as the Walt Disney studio's attempt to get in on Oz. The film was directed by Walter Murch, a respected editor and sound designer. Although it did not fare well at the box office and received mixed reviews from critics, it has gained a loyal following among fans of Baum's original Oz books and nostalgic fans. The film was released in theaters on June 21, 1985. Plot It has been six months since the tornado hit the Kansas prairie and carried the farmhouse away, and a depressed and broken down Uncle Henry is trying to build a new one. It is half finished, with winter just around the corner. The majority of the Gale farm is in ruins, the barnyard has been severely damaged by the storm and is barley standing, and everything around is either gone or in a state of poverty and despair. Resulting in the entire farm and the farmland having to be put up in mortgage. After returning from the land of Oz, Dorothy Gale who was once bright and energetic has become a melancholic child who cannot sleep because she suffers from insomnia and hasn't slept a night straight through or played with her pet dog Toto as she is obsessed with her memories of Oz. She has dreams and even nightmares about Oz, and this concerns Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, who don't believe her stories about her amazing fantastical adventures, and think Oz is nothing more than a figment of her imagination. Uncle Henry and Aunt Em are worried she cannot help them on the farm, which is at risk of foreclosure after the tornado. The two decide to take her to see Dr. Worley, known for his revolutionary electroshock therapy healing treatments. Before going, Dorothy, while looking hopefully for any eggs laid by her favorite chicken, Billina the yellow farm hen, who is not producing eggs for Aunt Em to cook to feed the family anymore, finds a key with the Oz glyph engraved in it, which she believes her friends from Oz sent to her the previous night by shooting star as a sign saying that they're in trouble. Aunt Em also complains about Uncle Henry's laziness due to a broken leg. Which is his excuse as to why the new house isn't finished. Aunt Em takes Dorothy to a psychiatric clinic to seek the help of a professional therapist so the child can sleep again, sadly kisses her goodbye, tells her that she will back for her the next day when Dr. Worley is done treating her as his patient and she even promises to bring Toto when she comes back, and leaves her at Dr. Worley's laboratory under the strict care of a stern faced and creepy nurse, who is dressed all in black. Nurse Wilson takes Dorothy to an empty dark waiting room after Aunt Em leaves to return to the farm before nightfall. The stern doctor carefully listens to her story about Oz, and after questioning Dorothy several times, decides to use an electroshock therapy machine on her to cure her of all her Oz "delusions", and seems a little too enthusiastic about trying his new therapy on the young pre-teen girl. As she is taken down a dirty and dimly lit hallway to have treatment during the onset of a huge thunderstorm, the lab has a blackout and Dorothy is saved by a mysterious and pretty young blonde girl who is around her age and happened to come out of nowhere. She is barefoot, dressed in an old fashioned hospital gown, asks Dorothy why she was brought to the hospital and gives her a tiny little pumpkin with a carved face as Halloween is right around the corner, and reveals that some patients have been driven insane by Dr. Worley's treatment and are hidden in the basement to keep people from knowing the truth and fighting him and Nurse Wilson out of their crimes. The two escape the building with Nurse Wilson in pursuit, and then fall into a river. The blonde girl vanishes underwater, but Dorothy survives by clambering on board an old wooden chicken coop which was floating nearby. It is large enough for Dorothy to fit inside of it, and she climbs safely inside like a baby in a cradle and falls fast asleep as it floats off into the abyss carried by the strong current and into the unknown. The next day, the storm is over and the sun shines bright, and upon awakening, a sleeping Dorothy finds herself back in Oz with Billina at her side for company. Dorothy discovers that the hen can now magically talk, and the two walk through a grassy green meadow filled with rich trees and little flowers, as Dorothy and Billina eventually reach Munchkinland only to find it completely deserted and desolate because no munchkins are seen anywhere, discover the old farmhouse that the tornado blew away and landed on the wicked witch of the east in front of the ruined yellow brick road where the bricks have been pulled out of the ground and removed from it's foundation, and they all are either broken in half or lay jumbled up in a mess. The emerald city is now in ruins, missing its precious emeralds, and all of its citizens including the tin man and cowardly lion have been turned to stone. Dorothy is saddened to see that the atmosphere is very gloomy like a desolate graveyard because it is surrounded by a thick dark forest with branches that hang dead and low, instead of the lovely colorful place she remembers on the first trip. Pursued by wheelers, which are a very rare species of bizzare, scary looking, viciously terrorizing, creepy, psychotic, dark, and hostile half-human and half-scooter cyberpunks with distended limbs with wheels for hands and feet, Dorothy and Billina hide in a secret room using the key, and meet a clockwork mechanical man named Tik-Tok who is in the royal army of Oz. Taking charge, Tik-Tok explains that the scarecrow, who is now the king of Oz since the wizard has left, is missing and has been captured by the nome king. When the three go to visit a head-exchanging witch named Mombi, who looks just like Nurse Wilson, for more information, they end up imprisoned. While imprisoned, Dorothy, Billina, and Tik-Tok meet Jack Pumpkinhead, a man made of tree limbs with a pumpkin for a head. Jack refers to Dorothy as his mother since she resembles his own creator and reveals he was brought to life via Mombi's powder of life. They formulate a plan to escape to the nome king's mountain. Dorothy steals the powder of life and finds that the heads double as a security system because they all start screaming, and Mombi’s headless body rises up and chases after Dorothy, Billina, Tik-Tok, and Jack. They use it to vivify a conglomerate flying machine with the head of a moose-like animal whose body is made from a sofa, palm fronds, and rope gathered from their surroundings. They escape and fly across the deadly desert with Mombi and the wheelers pursuing underground, and the unnerving sound the wheelers make on their approach is a screech that sounds like unoiled hospital cart wheels. The gump's body falls apart while airborne and the group lands on the nome king's mountain. The nome king brings Dorothy into his domain, where he offers them to take part in his guessing game to free the scarecrow, who has been turned into an ornament and had hidden him among his large collection, but three guesses wrong and they will be turned to ornaments as well. He also justifies his actions by arguing that the scarecrow stole the emeralds from his kingdom to build the emerald city. The gump, Jack, and Tik-Tok take their turns before Dorothy and fail, and as all meet this fate, and with each one changed, the nome king becomes increasingly human, who looks like Dr. Worley. When it is Tik-Tok's turn, he pretends that his gears have run down, and Dorothy is allowed in to wind him. Before Dorothy enters the ornament room to make her guesses, the nome king reveals to her that he was able to capture the scarecrow, wreak havoc on Oz, and conquer the emerald city courtesy of her discarded ruby slippers that fell off of her feet and landed on the top of the his mountain on her way back into the real world because she was so anxious and excited to get back to Kansas after her first visit to Oz. Dorothy realizes that the magical and glittery red high-heeled shoes not only fell into the wrong hands because the nome king found them, kept them as his own, and is wearing them on his feet, but also sadly sees that what has happened to Oz is part of her fault. The nome king offers to use them to send her back home on the condition that she will lose all her memories of Oz and reminds her that "there's no place like home", but she refuses and goes to find her friends. Tik-Tok lets Dorothy in on his plan—if he guesses incorrectly, she can see what ornament he will be transformed into, giving her a clue as to which one the scarecrow is hidden as. But as he makes his last guess, there is a bright flash and Dorothy cannot find him. Then, Mombi arrives in the nome kingdom, fearing that Dorothy might guess correctly and find out about Ozma. The nome king instantly grows angry at the suggestion Ozma may have escaped Mombi too, but when he is assured she hasn't he relaxes and tells Mombi that soon no-one will remember Oz and he will turn fully human. The nome king is sure that Dorothy will fail. On her last guess, Dorothy manages to locate the scarecrow, who was changed into an emerald green pincushion. With the scarecrow back to normal, he and Dorothy restore the gump, who was changed into a green inkwell, and Jack, who was transformed into a green china basket, but not Tik-Tok. Upon learning this, the enraged nome king realizes what's happened and becomes consumed with fury by becoming a huge one-eyed giant who loses his temper and shrieks at Mombi in an utterly inhuman voice, "YOU! LET! HER! ESCAPE!", and traps the witch in a cage for her failure as punishment for letting Dorothy escape, he leaves to deal with her directly and then confronts Dorothy and company in a gigantic monstrous form. Intent on killing each one of them, he has his minions block off any possible escape route, as the group runs away, nome monsters who all look like demons come out of the walls trying to claw at and catch hold of them. He then tries to eat them, but he freezes in terror at the sound of Billina clucking, while the hen, who had been hiding in Jack's hollow head, lays an egg in fright and it falls into the nome king's mouth. The nome king drops Jack, and he and his minions begin to decay rapidly by eventually becoming skeleton-like stones, their eyes turn into rocks, and they have creepy blank stares on their faces and slowly fall apart and die, as eggs are poisonous to nomes. Their kingdom begins crumbling to pieces by disintegrating in flames of red smoke and fire and leaving a pile of rocks and boulders. As the palace crumbles and they seem to have no means of escaping, Dorothy finds the ruby slippers and wishes for the emerald city to return to normal and for her and her friends to escape, which they do. After arriving safely just outside the emerald city, they find a jade green medal on the gump's antler and it proves to be Tik-Tok's transformation. In the emerald city, during a victory celebration, Dorothy spots the girl who had helped her escape the hospital in Kansas in a giant mirror dressed elegantly in a emerald green gaudy ball gown and adorned in precious jewels and crystals. Recognizing her, she walks towards Dorothy gracefully with a friendly smile. Dorothy helps her carefully step out of the mirror and to her side. She is really an imperial and immortal princess named Ozma, who is Jack's long-lost creator and the rightful ruler of Oz, who had been enchanted into a mirror by Mombi. Taking her place on the throne, Dorothy hands over the ruby slippers. After Mombi is imprisoned, Dorothy has her black magic and witchcraft taken away for all eternity. Ozma declares that a witch with no magic is a miserable creature indeed and forgives Mombi, then invites Dorothy to visit Oz any time she likes before sending her home, promising that she will check in with Dorothy from time-to-time to make sure that she is all right. Ozma also promises that if Dorothy ever wishes to return to Oz, she will make it so. Billina, who throughout the entire adventure was not that fond of Oz, decides not to return to Kansas after all, seeing how nice Oz truly is now that things are good again. Dorothy says goodbye to all of her new and old friends and promises to never forget any of them as she disappears in a flash of bright white light. Back in Kansas, Dorothy is located on a riverbank by Toto and Uncle Henry, who were leading a search party for her, as Aunt Em reveals that Dr. Worley's hospital was struck by lightning and burned down. Everyone, including damaged patients in the cellar escaped, except Dr. Worley because he was killed in the fire after he had gone back in to rescue his machines, while Nurse Wilson is carried away in a prison cart eerily similar to the one Mombi was trapped in. Upon returning to the farmhouse, Dorothy wonders if her trips to Oz might not have been dreams after all, until she makes the Oz symbol on her mirror, and sees Billina and Ozma peering at her. When Dorothy entreats Aunt Em to come to her room to see Ozma, Ozma silently instructs her to keep her and Oz a secret by shushing her gently and vanishing. Aunt Em encourages Dorothy and Toto to then run outside and play. Cast of characters Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale Brian Henson as Jack Pumpkinhead Sean Barrett as Tik-Tok Nicol Williamson as Dr. Worley / the nome king Jean Marsh as Nurse Wilson / Mombi Piper Laurie as Aunt Emily Gale Matt Clark as Uncle Henry Gale Denise Bryer as Billina Lyle Conway as the gump Pons Maar as the lead wheeler / a nome messenger / one of Nurse Wilson's assistants Emma Ridley as the girl at the hospital / Princess Ozma Justin Case as the scarecrow John Alexander as the cowardly lion / a wheeler Deep Roy as the tin man Jon Jacobs as the cage carrier Sophie Ward as Mombi II Fiona Victory as Mombi III Bruce Boa as a policeman Tansy as Toto Trivia The movie has a dark natured screenplay and a plot very loosely based on and also a combination of the second and third novels of the fourteen books in the Oz series: "The Marvelous Land Of Oz" and "Ozma Of Oz", as it is a darker take on and more accurately faithful adaptation of the original source material as L. Frank Baum envisioned it, and was deliberately intended to be a continuation of the more obscure original printed-page Oz book series, since it is a sequel to the generic story in the original "The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz" novel. This means that for the most part, everything was kept in closer similarity to the original books with the visual inspiration of the appearance of the characters who are all based and modeled closely on W. W. Denslow and John R. Neill's original spectacular Victorian-esque in-book illustrations, making it clear that Oz is a real place with Dorothy really travelling there as opposed to a dream. This film is not a bright, pretty, vibrant, peppy, jolly, sunny, glittery, happy-go-lucky, clappy, gaudy, camp, and cartoon-y musical sequel that is a light-hearted Oz adventure in the spirit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's hugely beloved Oscar-winning Technicolor musical fantasy film adaptation version of "The Wizard Of Oz" that starred Judy Garland as Dorothy Gale with elements of musical numbers, spontaneous dances, the MGM-styled version of Oz, and going down the "it was only a dream" route. Critics who were unfamiliar with the books thought this movie's tone and content was too dark, gloomy, intense, bleak, creepy, terrifying, and unsuitable for its intended audience of young children, and this caused them to make unfavorable comparisons to the MGM film, by claiming that the protagonists were too weird for viewers to relate or sympathize with, since "Dorothy's friends are as weird as her enemies." Although this film is not a direct sequel nor a partial sequel to the 1939 MGM musical version of The Wizard Of Oz, the crew at the Walt Disney studio did not want to completely lose the audiences who were familiar with the previous film that they knew so well, so they chose to obtain a license and pay a large fee to use some distinct visual ties that are direct references to it, the invention of ruby slippers and Noel Langley's idea of actors playing characters and having objects in the "real world" Kansas become characters in Oz, instead of using the original novel's silver slippers. They also paid homage to the Oz stories by slipping in many, many characters from the books in a big scene right at the end of the movie. The DVD blurb is misleading and made to believe that the film did not eschew anything from the previous film, "If you loved THE WIZARD OF OZ, you'll love accompanying Dorothy on this second thrilling adventure based on L. Frank Baum's Oz books! Dorothy finds herself back in the land of her dreams ... and makes delightful new friends (like Tik Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump) ... and dangerous new enemies (the creepy Wheelers, the head-hunting Princess Mombi, and the evil Nome King)." The Disney-owned Return To Oz film's characters and interpretation of Oz are featured in the Storybook Land Canal Boats attraction at Disneyland Paris. After Return To Oz was released, the Oz novels were subsequently reverted to the public domain because Disney lost the film rights to them. The movie's version of the character Princess Mombi is based on a combination of the old witch Mombi in The Marvelous Land Of Oz and Princess Langwidere in Ozma Of Oz. Originally the scarecrow, tin woodman, and cowardly lion were to have more prominent roles in this film, along with fully articulated animatronic faces, akin to that of the gump, however, budget cuts forced their appearances to be reduced to peripheral characters with mere cameos, while the puppeteers had to reduce the characters' faces to a series of masks with fixed expressions. Elements from The Marvelous Land Of Oz include the introduction of Jack Pumpkinhead, the witch Mombi and her powder of life, the conquest of the emerald city, the escape by flying sofa, and the search for Princess Ozma. From Ozma Of Oz comes the return of Dorothy, the talking chicken Billina, the wheelers, the discovery of Tik-Tok, a princess with interchangeable heads, the introduction of the nome king, and the ornament room. In this 1985 sequel, 9-year-old Fairuza Balk's Dorothy Gale lives in 1899 and was seven years younger than 16-year-old Judy Garland's portrayal of the character from 1939 Kansas in the MGM film. Although the former is not an exact a look-a-like of the latter, her braids and clothing resemble the latter's appearance. When the desolate emerald city is first seen, there is a close-up of a faithful reproduction of John R. Neill's portrait of the aptly named creature li-mon-eag, a creature with a lion's head, a monkey's body, and an eagle's wings. It appeared on the back cover of "The Magic Of Oz", an Oz tale by L. Frank Baum, first released mere weeks after the latter's death in 1919. The initial release to home video cassette occurred in 1985 shortly after the theatrical release, it was initially priced with a list price of $79.95. Disney reissued it in 1992 with alternate cover art. Return To Oz was on the list of "The Most Insane Sequels You Won’t Believe Exist", it stated that "The Wizard Of Oz is one of the most famous movies ever produced, despite the noticeable handicap of being 80 years old. MGM has never bothered trying to make a live-action follow-up to this undisputed classic, but that didn’t stop Disney from trying in 1985. Return To Oz, based on the series of Oz novels by L. Frank Baum, burst into theaters in the exact middle of the 1980s. It was considerably darker than the original film, including an electroshock ward and a perpetually-decapitated princess who steals other people’s heads. You know, that good ol’ Disney magic." This is one of the cases where if the original movie was so good and does well enough, the sequel or a part 2, is part of the circle of Hollywood life. Category:Movies Category:The Wizard Of Oz